If dysfunctional Avengers is your cup of tea, then this is the book for you. The plot is ok; the finale set in the ice base is pretty good. I don't agree with the characterization of Captain America, but then again I'm not an Ulitmates fan anyhow. ( )

With the release of the 'Iron Man 2' movie just around the corner, and with my mailman being harassed by me everyday as I eagerly anticipate my copy of the novel arriving in my mailbox, I figured it would be prudent to review another of Alex Irvine's novels, 'The Ultimates: Against All Enemies'. And what a novel it is.
If you're not familiar with the Ultimates they are basically the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, The Hulk and The Wasp all led by General Nick Fury) only they exist on a parallel universe and go by a different name. Now, I'm not usually one for a storyline that involves parallel universes but for this book an exception just has to be made. You see, the characters that we are familiar with have been completely revamped and made to appeal to a more mature audience. As such you have the following:
* Tony Stark (Iron Man) - an alcoholic, womanizing, glory hunter who is obsessed with money, power & sexual conquests.
* Thor - an environmental activist who may or may not be schizophrenic depending on your viewpoint.
*Captain America - a soldier who preaches American morals but is having an affair with Janet Pym (The Wasp).
*Bruce Banner (The Hulk) - injected himself with super-soldier serum and went on a homicidal rampage killing hundreds of innocent people.
*Hank Pym (Giant-Man) - wife-beating scientist obsessed with getting his wife, Janet Pym, back and is having a breakdown trying to do so.
*Janet Pym (The Wasp) - wants nothing to do with her estranged husband but has to work alongside him for the good of the team all while enjoying the pleasures of Capt America.
*Nick Fury - A superspy who is the personification of cool and who is African American (he has always been Caucasian in all other aspects of the Marvel universe) and who constantly struggles to keep the team on the same page.
Of course, most of these characters dislike, or are jealous of, each other and that just opens up a whole other layer of drama and angst to the mix. Phew!
The story itself involves an invasion by aliens, the Chitauri, that can take on human form and are incredibly difficult to detect. This causes paranoia to the extreme amongst the Ultimates and just adds to their already dysfunctional ways.
Alex Irvine has a wonderful grasp of the characters and brings them to life with an ease that has you longing to know what happens next in their lives. Couple this with his great story telling ability and his constantly flowing style of writing and this novel is a winner all the way. ( )

Honestly, I can't get enough of the pre-Loeb Ultimates. When I discovered that there were two novels based on the characters, I bought them without hesitation.

After I got over my disappointment that neither Quicksilver nor Scarlet Witch made an appearance in the book, I got interested in the book really quickly. There are some times when the story drags, particularly with the Chitauri progress reports, but I really like how the author fleshed out the characters here. Sometimes I think that he went a little too far, but you could tell that he was really trying hard to make these characters as three-dimensional as possible, and for the most part, he succeeded quite nicely. My only other issue was that I figured out the "surprise twist" a few chapters into the novel; it was glaringly obvious from the blurb on the back.

Still, the book was a good read, and I'd recommend it to people who are fans of the Ultimates. ( )